Pickup hay baler



July 8, 1941 G. w. THOMPSON, .1R v 2,248,519

PICKUP HAY BALER Filed July 24, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 8, 1941 G. w. THMPsoN, JR y 2,248,519

PICKUP HAY BALER Filed July l24, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 EE-ww III mw 1|".

- E llll Patented July 8, 1941 UNETED STATES PATE T FFICE v2,248,519 Y PIQPFAY BALER George W. 'Iliomvpsoin` Jr., Owensboro, Ky. Application Juiyjzfi, 1940, serial No. 347,291

7` claims. (o1. 10o- 25) The invention pertains to agricultural implements for baling hay andthe like material, and is especially directed to mechanism for conveying the material to the baler.

The baler of Athe conventional priorart practice comprises a. feeder member. which reciprocatesup and down into the hopper, during each down stroke engaging the, mass of material k,dee livered to the. hopper to. projectit downwardly into the press chamber and compress it therein. Ahorizontally. reciprocating plunger operates to compress the balelongitudinallm the down stroke of the feeder member being timed with the 4retraction of. the plunger. Under conventional practice the material is delivered to the hopper by4 hand, while vthe feeder member is in its upper retracted position.

.One object of the Apresent invention is to elirnie.`

nate the manual operation .of conveying .material tothe hopper and tothe .feedingmemberL .Pursuant to this purpose the invention comprises .a conveyor member for. collecting thev material as the baler is transported throughtheeldand to convey it to the hopper in position to be operated upon by the feeder member. Y v

An additional objectof .the invention .isY to discontinue the delivery of material .to :the hopper at predetermined .intervalsgwhen a bale is to be boundand completed.' Pursuant to this .purpose the invention includes mechanism to stop the delivery ofmaterial tothe hopper, and to .part the 4mass of material where itenters the hopper at the edge thereof, themechanism .operating to sweep the excess materialbackout of the way. of the feeder member. The delivery mechanism is interconnected withthe balingfmechanism to time theinterruption of delivery of material with the' formation of the bale.: The mechanism for operating the conveyor-and for separating the mass of materials; and the interconnecting. mechanism,` .is of. simple construction and operation and of. low cost. It .adds little to thecostof ,thebaler andlowers itscost of operation. The operating parts provide a. minimum of parts. which operate for` only a fraction ofthe time the baler'is. operating.. The movable device is easily handled and reduces the manual labor necessaryto produce bales.- Other. advantages will appear from an understanding. of the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, of which Figure. 1 isa side elevation of themachine;

Figure 2 is a plan View of the. machine;

Figure 3 is a.detailed end view showing the operating mechanism;

Figure 4 is a detailed plan View; and Figure 5 is a cross sectional elevation takenon line'5-5 ofFigureLl. 1 The machine of the invention comprises abaler, designated generally by the reference character I I, `which may be of standard and well known construction. In its essential elements the baler consists of a feeding member IZZoperated tore-Q ciprocate vertically downwardly into and upwardly out of the hopper I3. The feeding member comprises the head I4 which engages the mass of material delivered to the hopper and projects it downwardly therein and into the press chamber below with each downward stroke of the feeding member. Illustrated in Figure 2. is the pitman I5 driven from the gearV |61 to reciprocatehorizontally to vdrive a plunger V211 which compresses .the bale longitudinal ly interdrive. Il between the pitman `I5 and ythe` feeding member I2 Afunctions to time the operation of the feeding member in its downward stroke with theretraction stroke of the plunger. l 'Ifhe mechanism of the baler, per se, is oldan'clv fof well known construction, and further description thereof is not required herein. The present invention is directedto the mechanism Vfor delivering material to the `hopper I3. It comprises the cross conveyor I8 which moves transversely of the machine and which rides on the drum I9, Figure 3, positioned ladjacent tothe hopper.v ,A companion drum, not shown, cooperf; ating withdrum I9 determines the level of the conveying surface of I 8, The drum I9 iskeyed to the longitudinal shaft ZI which carries the driven beveled pinion 22 in mesh with the. driving beveled gear 23. The driving gear 23 "is mounted torotate freely on the drive shaft 2 4 which carries the pulley 2 5 keyed thereto. lThe shaft 24 is driven fromany suitable sourceof power, for example, through thepower transmissionbelt 26. 'Ihe transverse conveyor I8 receives the `hay or similar material from the pickup conveyor?!v disposed .longitudinally .of the machine land of the direction of travel thereof 4as determined by the wheels 28 and .29. The pickup conveyor is with the pulley 34 driven from the rear wheels 28 of the machine by means of the intermediate chain 34 and sprocket 35, and the belt 36.

As the material is picked up from the field it rides up the conveyor 21 and onto the cross conveyor I8 which operates to carry the material to the hopper I3. The feeding member or tamper I2 operates to project material downwardly into the hopper as the material is delivered to the hopper by the cross conveyor I8 and to compress it. When suicient material has been fed to the hopper for a bale, the bale formed in the well known manner,'it is projected out of the hopper from a side thereof into the discharge member 39. The discharge member 39 holds the bales between the upper and lower platens 46 and 4I which are yieldingly urged towards each other by means of the springs 42, which hold the bales under pressure until they are discharged from the machine.

The blocksetter 43, so-called, is thrown forward of the machine in position to be engaged by the projecting arms 44 of the feeding member I2, which projects a block downwardly into the hopper in position to oppose the plunger 20 to compress the material therebetween. This operation is manually controlled and is performed upon a bale being completed when a new bale is to be formed.

The present invention comprises mechanism to interrupt the drive of the cross conveyor I8 at the time when a bale is to be completed. It also includes mechanism to separate the mass of material at the edge of the hopper I3 where it leaves the cross conveyor I8 to enter the hopper to present additional material to be drawn into the hopper by the action of the feeding member I2. By means of the device of the invention the material to comprise a given bale is determined, and no additional material comes under the action of the feeding member I2 and the plunger 20.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention shown, the mechanism for separating the mass of material comprises gatelike elements which swing on the upright pivots 46 and 41. Tines 46 and 41 are spaced apart along the respective pivots 46 and 41. The pivots 46 and 41 are adapted to rotate in opposite directions to sweep across the top surface of the cross conveyor I8 to sweep the material back on the conveyor I8V and away from the edge of the hopper out of position to be actuated by the feeder member I2. The tines 46 and 41' are long enough to overlap at the center of the conveyor I8, and are positioned along the respective pivot rods 46 and 41 in staggered relationship to avoid interference with each other.

The pivot 46 carries the lever arm 48 and the pivot 41 carries the lever arm 49, the respective arms 48 and 49 being interconnected by the connecting link 50 which causes the respective pivots 46 and 41 to rotate in opposite directions. Thus, as viewed in Figure 4, when the pivot 46 rotates in the clockwise direction, the pivot 41 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction. Also connected to the arm 48 is the slide rod 5I which swivels at its point of connection with the arm 48. The slide rod I rests on the slide bearing 59, which is wide enough to permit movement of the slide rod sideways. The slide rod 5l is provided with an adjustment 52 to vary its length, in accordance with the stroke required to swing the pivots 46 and 41. Attached to the plunger 20 to reciprocate therewith is the abutment arm 53 the end 54 of which is adapted to engage the hook 55 at the end of the slide rod 5I when the slide rod 5I is shifted sideways to position the hook into the path of the abutment arm 56. The tension spring 56 is connected between the slide rod 5I at 51 and a fixed portion of the machine at 58, and tends to hold the slide rod 5I in position to position the hook 55 out of the path of the abutment arm 53.

As most clearly illustrated in Figure 3, there is provided the lower and upper bearing brackets 60 and 6I, respectively. The bracket 6I carries the lever 62 pivoted thereon at 63, the lever 62 being provided with the handle 64 for manual operation. The draw rod 65 connects the lever 62 with the lever 66 keyed to the shaft 61 which rotates in the bearing bracket 60. Also keyed to the shaft 61 is the lever 68 which carries the abutment finger 69 movable into the path of the abutment 10 projecting downwardly from the slide rod 5I.

When the lever 62 is thrown forward, in the counterclockwise direction in Figure 3, it is able to move until the angle 1I in the draw rod 65 engages the pivot pin 63 and rests against it. This movement of the lever 62, by manual manipulation of the handle 64, operates to actuate the lever 66 to rotate the shaft 61 in the -counterclockwise direction, swinging the lever 68 to cause the abutment nger 69 to engage and actuate the abutment 10. This action shifts the slide rod 5I against the tension of the spring 56 to position the hook 55 in the path of the abutment arm 53. On the next retracting stroke of the plunger 26 the end 54 of the abutment arm 53 engages the hook 55 and slides the rod 5I a distance determined by the adjusted length of the rod 5I and the stroke of the plunger 28. In this manner the upright pivots 46 and 41 are rotated and the tines 46', 41' swing across the surface of the cross conveyor I8 to push the material ba'ck, away from the edge of the hopper where it is out of position to be acted upon by the feeding member I2 as it moves.

Keyed to the rock shaft 61 is the lower lever 12 connected to the upper lever 13 by means of the connecting rod 14. Thus, when the hand operated lever 62 is thrown forward in Figure 3, the lever 13 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction to rotate the rod 15. The rod 15 extends along the length of the machine and carries the clutch fork 16 attached to its opposite end. The clutch fork 16 straddles the clutch collar 11, Figure 4, to disengage the clutch when the rod 15 is rotated by the handle 64 being moved to the left of the Figure 3. This operation disconnects the drive between the pulley 25 and the driving gear 23 which interrupts the drive of the cross conveyor I8.

Viewing Figure 3, when the hand operated lever 62 is thrown to the right its movement is limited by the stop pin 18 which projects laterally from the bearing bracket 6I. The stop pin 18 is so positioned that, when engaged by the lever 62, the clutch collar 11 is in engagement to drive theshaft 24 and the shaft 2| to operate the cross conveyor I8.

In practice the baler operates continuously, the feeding member I2 reciprocating up and down to project material as fed to the hopper 30 into and through the hopper into the press chamber, Operating in timed relationship therewith, the pitman I5 reciprocates the plunger 20 horizontally to compress the bale longitudinally. At the completion of a bale, i. e., when suicient material has been delivered tothe hopper and the feeding member I2 to produce a bale of the desired size, the attendant sitting at the seat 8l, the upper seat in Figure 2, projects the wire through the baler to be reached by the attendant sitting in the seat 82, who wires the bale.

Before the baler is to be blocked, the attendant throws the lever 62 forward in Figure 3 to disengage the clutch 'I9 and interrupt the drive of the cross conveyor I8.

Actuation of the lever 62 forward also throws the hook 55 into position to be actuated by the abutment arm 53 on the next retracting stroke of the plunger 26, which action causes the pivots 46 and 41 to rotate in opposite directions to separate the material at the edge of the hopper and to sweep whatever material remains at the end of the conveyor I8 back away from the hopper and away from the position to be acted upon by the downward movement of the feeding member I2'. The material is therefore parted after movement of the conveyor I8 has been discontinued. The tines 46 and kI'I engage the material and pull it against the pull exerted on the material by the downward stroke of the feeding member I2. The downward stroke of the feeding member I2 takes place simultaneously with retraction of the plunger 20, and accordingly simultaneously with the movement of the tines 46' to 4l. The material is thus parted at the edge of the hopper I3 and whatever material is not projected into the hopper by the feeding member I2 is pushed backwardly on the conveyor I8 away from the position to be actuated by the feeding member.

Upon moving the lever 62 forward, as described, the attendant in seat 82 moves the blocksetter 43 into position to be engaged by the projecting arms 44 of the feeding member I2 at the time when the feeding member makes its next succeeding downward stroke and the machine is ready to begin the production of another bale. The attendant in the seat 8| removes the block released by the completion of a bale and positions it into the blocksetter 43 which has been retracted to the position shown in Figure l awaiting the time when another bale is to be started. The attendant in the seat 82 then draws the lever 62 to the left in Figure 3 and into engagement with the stop pin 'I8. This action engages the clutch 'I'I to resume movement of the transverse conveyor I6. It also permits the tension spring 56 to retract the slide rod 5I to remove the hook 55 from position to be engaged by the abutment arm 53 upon the continued reciprocation of the plunger 20. While the transverse conveyor I8 is idle the pickup conveyor 21 continues to operate and the material is massed on the conveyor I8. Upon the resumption of movement of the conveyor I8 the material actuates the tines 46 and 41 to swing the pivots 46 and 41 in the opposite direction and to retain the operating mechanism, including the rod I, into position for the next operation by actuation of the lever 62 to the left in Figure 3.

The mechanism for discontinuing delivery of material to the baler is movable to two positions only, the hand lever 62 being movable to the left and right positions in Figure 3, and the slide rod 5I being moved to the left or right in Figure 4. These movements take place only once during the production of each bale because when the abutment arm 53 has actuated the slide rod 5I to the right in Figure 4, rod 5I will remain in that position while the plunger continues to reciprocate, and until such time when the clutch 'I'I has been reengaged.' Thisis'because abutment finger 69 slides past the edge of abutment 10, under pressure from-the handle 64 and its connections, when the rod 5I has once been moved to its extreme position at the right in Figure 4. Thus the rod 5I is held at that extreme right position until abutment finger 69 is retracted under control of handle 64. This release of abutment finger 69 past the edge of abutment 'I0 also permits spring 56 to retract rod 5I from the path of arm 53. In this retraction rod 5I may swing about its fixed end.`

Thefunction of spring 56 is to drawrod 5I toward-the spring and thus retract it from the path of rod 54. The spring is mounted so that its movable end is not drawn to any extreme extent outv of line with its pointAof fastening to the frame. y The spring 56 furthermore preferably is a light-springadapted to its function of withdrawing the rod 5I from the path of rod 54. In any event, the spring 56 exerts a negligible eiect to pull rod 5I to the left, indicated in Figure El, because Yto move rod 5I to the left requires overcoming the friction and resistance or inertia of the haygates and if the associated linkage pivots. The rod 5I with its abutment 'I6 is returned to the left so thatI the abutment 'IIJis in alignment with finger 69, that is to the initial position, only by resumption of operation of the driving clutch 11, brought about by the operator by means of clutch control lever 62. When the driving clutch 'I'I is thus engaged the gate is opened by the incoming hay, and thus rod 5I is returned to initial position. The invention shown in the drawings, and described in detail, is susceptible of a number of modiiications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, applicant is not limited to the specific structure disclosed but his invention is measured by the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a baler for hay and the like material comprising, a baling mechanism including a plunger, a hopper associated therewith, and a conveyor to deliver the material to the hopper in a continuous mass. a drive mechanism for the conveyor, a clutch to disconnect the conveyor drive to interrupt operation thereof, mechanism sweepalble horizontally across the conveyor feed to separate the mass of material at the edge of the hopper, and interconnecting mechanism between the conveyor drive mechanism and the separating mechanism to separate the material at the time when the operation of the conveyor is interrupted, the improvement in interconnecting mechanism comprising a slide rod operable during the production of each bale, slidable in one position to operate the separating mechanism and to another position upon resumption of operation of the conveyor drive mechanism.

2. In a baler having a baling chamber and a horizontal plunger operated therein, and means to convey feed material to the baling chamber and a gate movable into the path of the feed to separate the feed from material in the chamber, and means to stop the flow of feed; means to close the gate on stopping of the feed, directly connecting the plunger with the gate during one stroke of the plunger and operable by the horizontal plunger.

3. In a baler having a baling chamber and a horizontal plunger operated therein, and means to convey feed material to the baling chamber and a gate movable into the path of the feed to separate the feed from material in the chamber, and means to stop the flow of feed; means to close the gate on stopping of the feed operable by the horizontal plunger to close the gate, the gate-closing means comprising a rodv linked to the gate and having a finger movable into position to be operated by the plunger,and means to retract the rod finger out of operative position with respect to the plunger after one operation by the plunger.

4. In a baler comprising a baling chamber and a ybaling plunger, and feeding means and a gate closure for the feed, the improvement in means to close the gate comprising a rod linked to the gate and pivotallg7 mounted to be pushed into position to be drawn by a stroke of the plunger, and means to push said rod, said means being arranged to become inoperative at the extreme position of the stroke, and means on release of the pressure to retract the rcd from operative relation to the plunger.

5. In a baler having a baling chamber, a plunger operable therein and a feeder therefor, and a gate movable into the path of feed, the improvement comprising means to actuate the gate including mechanism operable by the plunger to close the gate, said mechanism including means to interrupt operation of the mechanism by the plunger.

6. In a baler having a baling chamber, a

plunger operable therein and a feeder therefor, and a gate movable into the path of feed, the improvement comprising mechanism to close the gate including a rod pivotally linked to the gate and swingable about its pivot into position to be drawn away from the gate by the plunger and a nger movable to swing the rod about its pivot into operative relation to the plunger, and means to cause movement of the finger out of operative position at the end of a stroke of the plunger, and means operative after said movement to return the rod to inoperative position.

7. In a baler having a baling chamber, a plunger operable therein and a feeder therefor. and a gate movable into the path of feed, the improvement comprising mechanism to close the gate including a rod pivotally linked to the gate and swingable about its pivot into position to be drawn away from the gate by the plunger, a limited bearing portion of limited extent on the rod and a finger operative to press against the bearing portion to pivot the rod into operative relation to the plunger and adapted at the end of the plunger stroke to move out of contact with the bearing portion, and means to remove the rod from operative relation to the plunger after the finger moves from the bearing portion.

GEORGE W. THOMPSON, JR. 

